Carmel has been returned home after being abducted and spending years with a travelling mad man and his cult. Now 21, she is trying to return to her old life, and find out who she is, who she has become, and who she was before she was kidnapped. Her mother Beth still can’t believe she has her daughter back. She finds herself tiptoeing around the house, trying to regain a relationship with her, afraid of saying the wrong thing, or the wrong action causing an argument. They don’t know how to be mother and daughter any more.

As Carmel tries to dig into her memories and figure out who she is, she starts to realise she may not have been the only lost girl. She is haunted by this and she spirals into deeper and deeper manic thinking trying to figure out who these other girls are. Meanwhile Beth does all she can to not lose her daughter again.

This is a follow on from Kate Hamer’s Girl in the Red Coat. While it will give more context to the characters and what they are suffering from if you have read the previous book, it stands relatively well as a stand alone. The book works in a series of flashbacks in different characters' point of view, and slowly pieces together the picture of what exactly happened to the lost girls.

It was an interesting read, but for a main character you would imagine you would have much sympathy for, Carmel is very unlikable at times. She is very self centred and doesn’t consider how her mother may be feeling, or anyone else in all of this. She does what she wants, when she wants, regardless of the consequences. She acts very childlike for someone of her age, and you ask yourself is it due to the upbringing she had. In general it was an interesting read, a little slow and dragged out in places, but a good story overall.

*I received this copy from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

The sequel to the girl in the red coat - Carmel is home and it’s been years since her abduction and life in what was basically a cult. All is not well, life is a constant battle and her childhood has made her secretive and confused, while it feels like her life is once again unraveling she’s actually making progress and working towards finding out both her truth, and the truth of mercy. We see mercy’s POV in flashback chapters and see how she was manipulated and taken by the same man who later takes Carmel and piece by piece, the puzzle becomes clear and the lost girls find themselves again

Carmel was kidnapped by a cult at the age of 8 and was with them until the age of 13 when she was finally reunited with her mother Beth.
Mercy Roberts left her drug addict parents to join the cult and was never seen again.
Carmel is now 21 but she and Beth are still struggling with the aftermath of what happened and the scars it has left them with. Carmel especially struggles with the thought there were other girls before her who were taken. The cult leader tried to give Carmel another name, Mercy. Now Carmel is obsessed with what happened to Mercy, did she too escape or did she somehow die.
This story goes between Mercys story in 1999 America and Carmel and Beth in 2013 London.
I wasn't keen on the writing style but that is very much a personal preference. The story was different, the characters complex and I found myself needing to know what happened to poor Mercy.

'The Lost Girls'by Kate Hamer offers a fresh take on a familiar story - the abduction of a young girl. Here we get the aftermath and the realization that rescue does not mean everything returns to normal. The attempts to piece a life back together are thwarted by the damage done and a confusion about what and who to believe.
Both Carmel and her mother Beth have a long way to go before they learn how to live with one another again and this is really difficult as they are changed in ways they hardly understand themselves and so have trouble relating to one another.
One of the things I like most about this book is that the quirkiness of Carmel's character seems true to her journey and some of her actions, especially her desire to contact the man who stole her, make perfect sense (once you get to know her).
I liked this book.

I'm a bit in the fence about this one. You know when you read a book and finish and kinda go.... what did I just read?! That's my feeling with this one. I felt I had to push myself to finish it it didn't really click for me but it might just not be my genre or my style of writing

I thought this was an enjoyable read that hooked me from the start. I liked the charcater development but I owuld have liked to see some more development in some of the characters, but overall I enjoyed it,

I pushed myself through this book but it was rather painful. The plot was strange and the characters were not that great either. I just wanted to finish it to review but I didn’t enjoy it.

Possible spoilers

3.5 stars


At times quite a moving book, the stories of Mercy and Carmel, not just lost, but taken.
Both so young.
The touching moments as Mercy tries to instill order into her family life, or when Carmel tries to fit into normal life.

I will admit I felt a tad frustrated, wanting to know more about Carmels life.
How was she taken, how was she found, what exactly happened in the years she was gone.
This is surely a positive, a character I want to know everything about. (What do you mean, "have I read the girl in the red coat?) 😄

An ending that seems perfect for this book.
Very enjoyable read.